7 Quick Takes -- Welcome Fall!

1) Tomatoes

Peter likes to play with tomatoes. He likes to eat them, too!

We didn't get the big garden as we wanted this year. But I did plant three tomato plants. And I had so little faith, I didn't even cage two of them. Well, thanks to all the rain this year we have tomatoes coming out of our ears. But thankfully many of us like them. Next year we might have to learn that canning thing. 😃

I have no idea what went wrong with this tomato.

2) New Vacuum

Since we are fully solar power here, being able to use things on battery power is very helpful. That way we can charge the batteries when we have excess power (in the afternoons when it is super sunny) and use that power during the low power times (evening and night). I splurged on this Ridgid cordless shop vac (since Gordie already has several Ridgid brand batteries for his power tools).This has been a game changer here. Granted the batteries don't run long -- vacuums take a lot of power! But thankfully we have several batteries and I mostly just vacuum a little chunk at a time.

3) Park fun

We remembered a lost loved one at the park a few weeks ago and had some silly fun while we were there.

4) Rebekah made her schedule.

This girl makes me smile. She is so much like her mom and so organized!

5) Rebekah made these awesome costumes.

For Star Wars day at Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Rebekah made these costumes for the tortoises. They are Millennium Tortoise and Darth Turtle.

6) Breaking in the stove.

We finally used our new range for it's inaugural marshmallow roasting. (A must for all gas stoves -- or even electric for that matter!) Everyone enjoyed the results.

7) Food.

Rebekah made this yummy breakfast for me!

Rebekah has told me she wants to eat Whole 30. She did a round with me a while back after complaining her stomach was hurting from all the candy and fast food she had been eating. She is not exactly sticking to all the rules, but eating protein and lots of veggies at every meal. And bonus, she often cooks for me, as well, as she knows I like to eat this way, but it is just too expensive and time consuming to feed a non-grain, non-dairy diet to all the kiddos.

8) BONUS

I picked up a cheap carpet at Wal-mart (the one on the left -- the right carpet has been with us for years) and it is actually really cool. It has this neat texture to it. Everyone approves, as you can see in this picture that reveals what a great parent I am. 😀 -- Actually Miriam is doing a phonics game here, so there is that. But yep, it's screen time. Happens to all of us.